Hand truck



ug. 25, 1931. i c. ANDERSON f 1,820,765

HAND TRUCK Filed March l, 1929 40 tion and the draw-bar in an extended posiout for use O. slid inwardly out of theway u Patented Aug. 25, 1931" f 1,820,765'

Unirse STATES yini'ri3-1afr A(j)i-,I-icziez Appneatioaniea' March 1, i929. seriai No. 343,714.' This inventionk relatesto improvements in charactera'the numeral 10 designates my imhand trucks. j v l l Y. f y v1 f proved hand truck in its entirety, Which in- `The primary object of the invention recludes abody11 constructed `of. steel or other sides ina hand truck for facilitating the `strongmaterial. The body 11 includes asub 5 handling of. freightin the loading and unstantially horizontal bed 12 and front Wall loading of a sliips cargo, and for use in 13 extending upward'from said bed at an short haiils on Steamship piers andy like obtuse angle. The bed and front Wall are freight terminals. j j Constructed ofV side rails 14 connected by Another object of kthe invention Vis to pro- .transverse spaced slats 15. Diagonal side l vide a hand truck which may be converted braces 16 connect the bed and front Wall for ce into a ytrailer by" connecting, a number of strengthening purposes and for preventing trucks, end to end, which may be pulled Vby accidental lside. slipping of a load carried any suitable motive power, such as a tractor, thereby. Y i the truck being provided with a dravv bar The truck is supported adjacent its rear l extensible beyond one end of the truck and `end by .depending-feet 17, and adjacent its 65 turnable with respect to the body thereof, and f frontend byftvvo alignedwheels 1 8 freely roan eye at the other end whereby the hook tatable upon. transverse axel 19 mounted provided on the free end of the draw bar in brackets QOdepending from the underside y of one truck may be detacliably connected to of the truck body. Atubula'r spacing sleeve 20 the eye of the next adjacent truck. By turn- '2l houses 4the sha-ft2 and maintains the Wheels 2"-1 ably mounting the draw bar to the truck in spaced relation, While brace brackets 22 body, the truck may be sharply turned when depending frointhegtruck body` embrace the in coupled formation. v tubular sleeve and which tends to distribute A further object is the provision of a hand the Vivc-iiglit ofthe load along4 the' axel rather 25 truck having handles which muy be GX- tha'nat the twoendsthereof Plates 23 fixed i5 tended for manual manipulation of the truck, .to the side rails of the body overlie the ends and which may be moved'to an out of the Way ofthe axel to` prevent lateral shifting of the position when the dran7 bar is extended for saine andto" conceal said ends. From the den use. r scription of the Wheels and mounting there- With these and other objects in vieW, the for,` it -Will be notedzthat theends of the ax- 1,80, invention resides in certain novel construcf' els do not project beyond the plane of the tion and combination and arrangement 0f' sdefrails ofthebody and the use of Cotter PJM-S the @SSGDM {Qa-MRS 0f Whijh` of@ Jpiiis'and likefastenings are dispensed With. hereinafter fully described, are particularly Fm manual manpuatonf tha truck I Pointd out. in the apljsndm 015mm@ and @te provide handle' members Qhtlie vinnerends lutlated 1n the acompanymg dmwmgs, m of which are provided With cylindrical heads vivhijch- I l 125, 'slidable in cylinders 26 fixedly mounted E gul? l 1S a 51de elevalol 0f my lmlfOVeSl beneath 1 the side rails. The handles '24 are truck With the handles in inoperative posithus' Slda'bjy mounted and may bepuued torfor use: 1 th when not in use or When the truck is yused asy lgure 2 is a top pm new are@ 'j a trailer in a manner now to be described, Figure 3 is an enlarpged vertical sectional Turnbly mounted as at 27 to Onejvof the vieWonthelineS-o FiO'uieQ. .1 j y y Figure 4 is a detail vertiial sectional vievs7 jmnsei] oqs Sllts tOQSthe lzisf an sa through one of the handles showing the same Dwell@ 'Snipe' j me A @uylug .a 01" Wardly extending cylinder l 29. Slidably in operative position. j l j v Figure 5 is a detail vertical transverse sec mourned l the legs 0f the bffwkev 28 1S a tional vievv on the line 5-5 of Figure 3. Clivv bei having a cylindricalhead 81 at Referring to the drawings by reference its forward end for sliding Withintlie'cylini n UU mou `lar or 4from the spirit of mv invention, and

der 29 while its opposite end terminates in a down-turned hook 32. A fin 33 rises above the hook for preventing the hook of one truck from accidentally riding out of engagement of the eye 34C of the next adjacent truck with which it connects. The eye 34 is mounted on the front wall on horizontal plane slightly above the plane of the drawbar so that the feet of the trucks are supported above the ground. The lin 33 will strike the truck body at the front should the coupled train of trucks come to an abrupt stop to prevent accidental separation of the hook from its connecting eye.

The draw-bar is provided with a stop colflange 35 which engages the bracket 28 when pushed inward to an inoperative position to limit inward movement of the same, and when pulled out for use, the strain of the truck body upon the draw bar causes a slight flex or bend therein whereupon the collar engages the rear end of the bed to limit inward movement of the draw bar.

F rom the foregoing, it will be seen that when a number of these hand trucks are coupled together, the draw bars 30 of the respective trucks may turn laterally, thus allowing the coupled trucks to be sharply turned which is at present a serious problem in the handling of a train of trucks especially where congested conditions prohibit wide turns.

The truck body l1 is so balanced that it may be tilted forward to rest upon the corner feet or shoes 37, or may be further tilted with ease so that the front wall 13 rests upon the ground for facilitating loading and unloading of the same.

The feet or shoes 37 may be used as a brake when the truck is travelling down hill by allowing the same to drag upon the ground. This braking action overcomes the energy which otherwise would be required to keep the truck under control. i

Hooks 38 are provided at front wall 13 to which cables or loops may be secured for hoisting the entire truck, it being of course understood that a cable would also have to be placed beneath the rear end of the truck body to assure raising of the truck with its load on an even keel.

While I have described what I deem to be the most desirable embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that many of the details may be varied without in any way departing therefore do not limit myself to the eXact details of construction herein set forth nor to anything less than the whole of my invention limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is zl. A hand truck including a body supported upon wheels, a bracket turnably mounted to the underside of said body, a coupling bar slidably mounted in said bracket, stop means the top of the for limiting inward and outward movement of said coupling bar to inoperative and operative positions respectively, said coupling bar having a hook at its outer end for engagement with a coupling eye secured to another truck, and a fin adjacent to said hook arranged to engage the body of said other truck to restrain unintentional dislodgment of said hook from said eye.

2. A hand truck including a body supported upon wheels, a bracket turnably mounted to the underside oi said body, a cylinder eX- tending from said bracket, a coupling bar provided with a head at one end for sliding within said cylinder and a coupling hook on the opposite end for coupling engagement with another truck to be connected, the hook end of said coupling bar being extendable beyond oneJ end of said body, and a stop member on said coupling bar adapted to engage the end of said body when in operative extended position with a load supported upon said body.

In testimony whereof I have aliXed my signature.

CHARLES ANDERSON.

ISO 

